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Tuesday, May 6, 2014

2014 Florida Legislature Passes Human Trafficking Legislation

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle applauds the
actions of the 2014 Florida Legislature for passing the additional Human
Trafficking legislation she had proposed during her interactions with members
of the Florida House and the Florida Senate.
“I am very proud of how responsive our Florida Legislature has been to
the needs of Human Trafficking victims,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney
Katherine Fernandez Rundle. “They have
seen the need to come down hard on those who would sell the childhood of our
victims while recognizing the special steps it may require to rebuild the
future of these victims.” Several of the criminal cases filed by my Human
Trafficking Task Force contained conduct that so shocked our legislators (such
as the “branding” via tattooing of young girls and the use of a 13 year old girl
at a “strip club”) that specific prohibitions and requirements were created.

Among the accomplishments of the new legislation will be the
prohibition on the employment of minors in adult theaters and “strip clubs”;
the requirement that adult theaters and “strip clubs” verify the ages of
employees and their independent contractors and maintain documentation of that
proof; a revision of some of the penalties for various human trafficking
offenses which can make a convicted repeat offender eligible for as much as a
life sentence. The legislation also
provides sentence enhancements for the “branding” via tattooing of Human Trafficking
victims while adding privacy protections to the victims of Human Trafficking by
exempting information that reveals their identity of a victim similar to the
protections given to the victims of sexual assaults. Additionally, the Legislature provided Human
Trafficking victims with access to Victims Crimes Compensation funds which also
provide these victims a vehicle for possible relocation assistance.